Family Nurse Practitioner

A family nurse practitioner is an advanced nursing professional that works with patients of all ages. This person performs task similar to family physicians, but he or she does not carry quite as many responsibilities as a doctor might. If you want to work in the upper levels of family health care without actually becoming a doctor, this could definitely be an option for you. The information below provides an overview for the job of a family nurse practitioner so you can get a better feel for this career. You can use this information you figure out if this is a career that you could see yourself in.

Family Nurse Practitioner Job Duties

The job duties of a family nurse practitioner change from on employer to the next based on the kinds of patients that come in. Common job duties for family nurses include:

Prescribing medications for patients to take

Providing preventative services to ensure that patients stay healthy

Examining patients for potential medical problems

Administering medications in the office to treat issues on-site

There are plenty of other duties that come along with your work as a family nurse practitioner, but that should give you an idea of some of the jobs at the core of this career. With this knowledge, you can now fully assess whether or not this is the profession for you.

Family Nurse Practitioner Salary Levels

Family nurse practitioners make pretty good money, depending on where they work and how experienced they are in the field. Your salary in this career may be vastly different than someone else’s based on your specific situation. Thus it may be a little hard for you to predict your future earnings. Here are a few charts to keep in mind to figure out how much money you may make as a family nurse practitioner:

As you can see, it is easy to earn a good living in this career path. You will never have to worry about not making enough to support your family. You may have to go through a little more training for this career than you would for other nursing professions, but that could definitely pay off in the end. You just have to determine if the pay would be worth the extra effort for you.

How to Become a Family Nurse Practitioner

To become a family nurse practitioner, you will need to complete a master’s degree program. This will take a total of six years to do, with four years going towards your undergraduate education. You can start working as an RN after you get your associate’s or bachelor’s degree, so you can gain work experience while you get your master’s degree if you want to. You just need to have a schedule flexible enough to do so. If you plan your training out correctly, you should be able to enter this profession in no time.